Cutting Down Countdown

Goldiegirl

I did a similar exercise in the 18 months or so leading up to our early retirement.

I set our budget at a level based on our projected post retirement income and we lived accordingly. (There were some variables I had to factor in such as travel to work, things like that). All the money we had left over was put into savings for retirement.

It's a good way of seeing if the finances are practical

But just a few things

'country mummy' sounds a bit fluffy and idealised and nice when the children are small.But are you sure your dreams are rooted in reality and what happens when the kids are older and want to be in town all the time.

What does your husband think about this - is he happy to be sole bread winner, and not have the luxuries you currently enjoy. What if he wants to be a country daddy, but won't speak up - perhaps he might want a less stressful work life too

Have you thought long term - what about your pension - you'll need 35 years National Insurance contributions for a full state pension. You are ok while the children are small, as you get NI credits but if you are taking yourself out of work completely, somewhere down the line you'll need to think about making voluntary Ni contributions.

Also, what about pension planing in general - how will you save for the future?

These are just a few thoughts I had

try_harder

Welcome dingdongsaving i will be following your journey.Wow that is amazing suki1964 can you give me any tip i would love to be able to reduce my food budget my children and grandchildren often come for meals and i seem to spend a fortune thank you in advance.

Pollycat

suki1964 wrote: »

I've been so fortunate to have been living the dream the last ten years

We don't have a lot of land, a fair sized garden. We have 12 hens and we grow as much of our own as we can. I scratch cook mostly everything, still buy bread and things like tinned beans, and can always stretch a meal to another portion or so for the freezer or lunch

When I first stopped working full time 17 years ago it was a pure leap of faith. Actually I had had a breakdown and although work were very good at taking me back on a staggered return, I couldn't cope so decided to leave. So I went from a good wage and pension pot to ZILCH

And funnily enough, our lifestyle didn't change one bit. Because I was home money was saved left right and centre because I had the time to find the best deals, get the best value and to cook from scratch etc etc

I found this site in 2004. I was looking at one of my first posts here from then, the first ever grocery challenge. I was looking to cut down from £40 a week for 2 adults. ( tin of toms was 17p then ) 12 years on I now feed 3 adults for around £35, plus kids and grandkids whenever they land, which is pretty often

There's so much inspiration on these boards, I read daily most of the threads even if I don't always post. Old style is now second nature to me and the best of all is DH is now behind me all the way. He will now look in charity shops and buy, something he refused to do for years and would give off at me for doing. And he recycles and up cycles everything. This year alone he's made a garden bench from a railway sleeper, a garden table from a cable drum, a slide and wendyhouse from bits and pieces he's managed to find( including a sheet of stainless steel left over from the pubs kitchen refit) and our chicken house and our pizza oven

Good luck with it all. The best thing about living like this if the family time we have now. Kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, in laws , turn up as and when and its never any bother/hassle. Spare rooms are always ready, always something in the fridge/freezer/cupboards I can make a meal out of, no last minute dashes to the supermarket or making beds up last minute.

So we won't ever be rich but then as they say here, there's no pockets in shrouds

Suki! Suki! Go girl! :T

suki1964

try_harder wrote: »

Welcome dingdongsaving i will be following your journey.Wow that is amazing suki1964 can you give me any tip i would love to be able to reduce my food budget my children and grandchildren often come for meals and i seem to spend a fortune thank you in advance.

Most of what I've learned I've learned from the oldstyle board

It's simple really, meal plan, don't throw anything out, portion control and ys shop

Take Thursday for instance. I made a corned beef plate pie. Enough for three adults main meal, and two smaller slices left over for lunch. The pastry trimmings re rolled made 12 jam tarts. Total cost about £2.50 excluding electricity

I'm also very lucky that I live close to a chicken processing factory. I can pay as little as 25p for a M&S or waitrose chicken ( never more then £2.50) and as little as £5 for a turkey. And of course I have my own eggs. Not just ready yet to process my own chicken, but I will get there

We eat well but some people might find it pretty boring. I have an idea of what I'm prepared to pay for something and won't pay above that. Last week for example cauliflower was 49p in lidl, we ate a lot of cauliflower last week, this week they were back up to £1.50, so carrots, parsnips and cabbage are this weeks mainstay

If I was really sensible I'd have bought a lot more cauliflower and froze it last week. However our electicity supply isn't reliable so I only have a small freezer which is usually full of chickens and ys bargains

Another thing I have that really helps stretch a joint is a meat slicer. With that I can make even the smallest joint go twice as far. Once a plate is filled with veg and yorkies, you really don't need to pile a lot of meat on. Mother, hubby and SIL all have huge appetites ( seriously big eaters) and they never leave my table looking more


JackieO, Mrs lurchwalker, GreyQueen, and many others on here are queens of stretching the pennies. I've learned so much from them and am still learning. The oldstyle board is so friendly and full of great advice. Without the help I've found here, I'd still be on the 9-5 treadmill and hubby would still be working 500 miles away

Pollycat

suki1964 wrote: »

Most of what I've learned I've learned from the oldstyle board

It's simple really, meal plan, don't throw anything out, portion control and ys shop

Take Thursday for instance. I made a corned beef plate pie. Enough for three adults main meal, and two smaller slices left over for lunch. The pastry trimmings re rolled made 12 jam tarts. Total cost about £2.50 excluding electricity

I'm also very lucky that I live close to a chicken processing factory. I can pay as little as 25p for a M&S or waitrose chicken ( never more then £2.50) and as little as £5 for a turkey. And of course I have my own eggs. Not just ready yet to process my own chicken, but I will get there

We eat well but some people might find it pretty boring. I have an idea of what I'm prepared to pay for something and won't pay above that. Last week for example cauliflower was 49p in lidl, we ate a lot of cauliflower last week, this week they were back up to £1.50, so carrots, parsnips and cabbage are this weeks mainstay

If I was really sensible I'd have bought a lot more cauliflower and froze it last week. However our electicity supply isn't reliable so I only have a small freezer which is usually full of chickens and ys bargains

Another thing I have that really helps stretch a joint is a meat slicer. With that I can make even the smallest joint go twice as far. Once a plate is filled with veg and yorkies, you really don't need to pile a lot of meat on. Mother, hubby and SIL all have huge appetites ( seriously big eaters) and they never leave my table looking more


JackieO, Mrs lurchwalker, GreyQueen, and many others on here are queens of stretching the pennies. I've learned so much from them and am still learning. The oldstyle board is so friendly and full of great advice. Without the help I've found here, I'd still be on the 9-5 treadmill and hubby would still be working 500 miles away

I think you're doing yourself down, Suki.

I've seen your menus on the 'what are you having for dinner?' thread and wouldn't say your food is boring at all.

You seem to have your head screwed on about the life you want and it sounds pretty good to me.

[Deleted User]

Thank you suki1964 I do me best honey.I supposed growing up during WW2 rationing and having a Mum who could make a penny do the job of ten helped no end. I do have sufficient funds to splash out if I wanted to and my frugality isn't because of lack of cash, but its just a way of life.

My generation I think, often because we had so little, tend to appreciate what we have, and try to make it go further.

I treat my housekeeping as a business and the funds I have each month as my cash flow What I manage to save goes on other things my DDs, grandchildren ,holidays etc.I still like to have a little bit of 'happy Cash' in my purse as everyone needs a 'cream doughnut' moment, or what ever you fancy for a treat.I keep a set amount in my food purse per month in cash and only use that for food shopping Much the same way as I did back in 1962 when I first got married, and your weekly housekeeping was exactly that, a set amount every week, and when it was gone that was it until the following Friday.But even then I had a small amount of happy cash' which was for treats for either my OH or myself or in time my two little girls.

I still sit on a Sunday morning and do my menus for the coming week and list on the fridge what I am running low on or out of.I try to shop now around every ten days as there is only me to feed anyway at home so no real need for a big shop anymore .

I do still bake cakes and biscuits for my DGS as they do have hollow legs when it comes to grannies cakes and I bulk cook things for the freezer and scratch cook virtually anything .

I don't like to eat stuff full of chemicals or numbers so junk food to me is a waste of time Instant food is overpriced and of dubious quality at time .

I would rather eat one good 85-90% pork sausage than four cheapo ones. The advent of freezer were a brilliant invention I think as it means that there is always food available with a quick zap in the microwave you can have dinner pretty quickly

I make my own soups with Y/S veg or stuff that's past its best.Far cheaper and much tastier than tinned stuff.I have no illusions about days gone by and would hate to have rationing back and the revolting stuff we had to eat back then,but it did make you almost indifferent to what you ate and no one was allowed to turn their nose up at what ended up on the plate .

As suki says a decent corned beef plate pie will go a good long way I used to make odds and sods pie when my children were small and Wednesday or Thursday the larder was looking a bit empty of inspiration

Basically it was a baked blind pasty shell filled with what ever I could find in the fridge /cupboard .A diced onion,a couple of sausages cooked and diced up a tin of bean perhaps all chucked in and mixed up with a little bit of gravy then topped with cheesey mashed potato and cooked in the oven until the potato top had crisped and turned golden brown.This with some carrots and green veg made a cheap filling meal out of virtually nothing.

In the summer time quiche is also an easy thing to make and you can chuck what you like in eggs bacon bits of left over broccoli, cheese, a sliced tomato or two, and with salad it also is filling .

Good in packed lunch boxes as well.I like to look in the cupboard and think now what can I do with that to make it tasty.I am a great lover of herbs and spices.

Last night I had a tuna and sweetcorn salad and a small tin of tuna and a small tin of sweetcorn both drained and mixed together with some plain mayo to which I had added some garlic granules (why buy garlic flavoured mayo when you can do it yourself ) I added a small shake of mixed herbs and all mixed together it was delicious I still have a bowl in the fridge which will do for tomorrow lunch on a jacket spud.

I am very keen on sweet chilli sauce and my local family bargains shop sells a big bottle for 99p. most of my food gets a splash of that at some point.Even in HM soups.


Its just a case of thinking what can I do with this.I can relate to the cauliflower story as I too had a large white cabbage that I have been eating my way through this week,but as it was only 40p it was well worth it and its a vegetable :):)

people on here are so helpful and often they will post recipes I collect them online and stick them into my office word programme where I have an online recipe book which I have been collecting over the years .

Amazing what you can do with a tine of sardines and some couscous :):)

Pollycat

JackieO wrote: »

Its just a case of thinking what can I do with this.I can relate to the cauliflower story as I too had a large white cabbage that I have been eating my way through this week,but as it was only 40p it was well worth it and its a vegetable :):)
people on here are so helpful and often they will post recipes I collect them online and stick them into my office word programme where I have an online recipe book which I have been collecting over the years .Amazing what you can do with a tine of sardines and some couscous :):)

I cooked a recipe called kapuska that uses white cabbage.
Its origins are Eastern Europe/Russia, Rick Stein had it in Turkey.
Actually I found a number of recipes, some said green cabbage, some said white.

Pollycat wrote: »

It was fab.
Will definitely do again.
Rick's recpe said 'skinned chopped tomatoes', I used half a can of tinned.
Bit of a faff, but very well received by 'the boss'
In fact we had the remainder for lunch today.
I filled a pitta bread with my portion. Not a pretty sight, but very tasty - and one of my 5 a day.

ETA: I served the kapuska with Savoyard potatoes, what's not to like about tatties, cabbage & mince.

I also blanch and freeze any left-over cabbage and mix with mashed potatoes for a shepherd's pie topping.
You have to really squeeze the excess water out though.

try_harder

Thank you suki1964 and Jackieo what a brilliant site this is i wish i had known of it years ago,if i had ok known all of these great tips on here and all the other groups on the forum i would have been a millionaire by now instead of starting at the beginning in my fifties ,such great ideas ,i shall be having a really good read tonight this has made me feel a lot happier going forward into june and hoping to stick to a budget thank you all

candygirl

I think JACKIEO N SUKI need to collaborate on abook about OS living .Whenever I read either of your posts, I think there's hope for me yet.Although i'm veggie, I still use a lot of tips from this board, and would like to be even more frugal in the future

tori.k

It be wise to look into voluntary national insurance payments if you intend on staying home for the longterm, NI is protected if you claim Child benefit for a child under twelve, you need 35 years contributions if you want a full state pension on retirement age.